News
Author of Fast Food Nation Speaks at Kresge
by Charles Hallford
News Staff

On March 4, Eric Schlosser, author of the book Fast Food Nation, addressed a packed audience at Kresge Auditorium about how the fast-food industry effects the U.S. In his book, Mr. Schlosser argues that, in general, the fast food industry commits severe injustices against both its workers and its consumers.

Professor Russell Fernald, Director of the Program of Human Biology here at Stanford, introduced Mr. Schlosser, and gave a quote in Fast Food Nation that "muckraker" Upton Sinclair stated about his book The Jungle: "I aimed for the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach." Mr. Fernald announced that Mr. Schlosser would give his brief "comments, then he'd love to talk with you." Microphones in the aisles allowed many audience members to converse with Mr. Schlosser after his speech.

"Food is the foundation of human biology," Mr. Schlosser said. "Food is the most important industry." He further stated, "A society, in many ways, is defined by its food industry. ... Fast Food Nation ultimately is not about food but about our nation."

Before talking about our nation or the fast-food industry specifically, Mr. Schlosser spoke about Stanford, "This is a really beautiful place. . . . a beautiful bubble." He said that bubbles can be good. They provide safe and secure places to think, write, and focus on one's work. However, he encouraged students not to ignore the harshness of the real world outside the Stanford bubble.

Mr. Schlosser told his audience at Kresge, "I'd like to think that if Herbert [Hoover] were alive today, he'd be at the clock tower tomorrow morning," referring to the anti-war events on campus to happen the day after.

"My work... has been very strongly attacked from the right," said Mr. Schlosser. However, he stated that he has also been attacked from the left for not being radical enough. "I promise you I am not trying to make anyone think a certain way," he said. "Who would want to live in a world where you can make everyone agree with you-- except our Attorney General?"

Mr. Schlosser then opened the floor to questions and comments from the audience. During the question-and-answer segment, he commented that stopping all customers from visiting a certain fast-food restaurant is not necessary to convince the fast-food restaurant to change. If 1-5% of regular customers stop going to a fast-food restaurant, then, according to Mr. Schlosser, "it's disastrous for that company." When asked what political changes he would like to see, Mr. Schlosser replied that he would like to see really tough food-safety laws, really tough worker-safety laws, tougher environmental laws, and an increase in the minimum wage. He referred to the minimum wage as the maximum allowable level of exploitation.

After his speech in Kresge Auditorium, the Human Biology theme house hosted a reception for Mr. Schlosser with snacks and drinks for him and others. There he revealed that he has spoken at eight or nine different universities, including a talk at Princeton, his alma mater, earlier this year and that he first met Prof.Fernald at a conference in Italy.

When asked how he would describe his own political views, Mr. Schlosser replied that he adheres to libertarian philosophy on personal social issues such as smoking tobacco and marijuana but that "government has a huge role to play in economics." However, he described most of his other political beliefs as "mixed" and said, "No one pure way fits."

Page last modified on Thursday, 02-Mar-2006 00:22:11 MST.